moned a meeting of the noblemen and chief gentry of the province ‘to see what they may be drawn to do against the rebels … and what relief of victuals we may have of them, and what contributions they will yield to ease some part of her majesty's charge hereafter.’ But the attendance at the meeting was meagre in the extreme, and even among the best disposed Pelham found ‘such a settled hatred of English government’ that it was clearly useless to expect any general submission so long as Desmond was at liberty. Accordingly, after many delays, he and Ormonde entered Kerry together. From Castle Island, where they narrowly missed capturing the Earl of Desmond and Dr. Nicholas Sanders [q. v.], they advanced along the valley of the Maine, scouring the country as they went, to Dingle. At Dingle they found Admiral Winter, and, with his assistance, Pelham ransacked every cove and creek between Dingle and Cork, while Ormonde harried the interior of the country. The devotion of the western chiefs to the house of Desmond was unable to bear the strain placed upon it, and one by one they submitted to Ormonde. At Cork there was a great meeting of all the lords and chiefs, ‘cisalpine and transalpine the mountains of Slieve Logher.’ All were received to mercy except Lord Barrymore; but Pelham, acting on the advice of Sir Warham St. Leger [q. v.], took them along with him to Limerick. Desmond was still at large, but his power had been greatly crippled, and Pelham, though by no means blind to the serious consequences of a Spanish invasion, was fairly satisfied with the results of his expedition.
Pelham, who insisted on an unconditional surrender, was preparing for a fresh inroad into Kerry, when he received information that the new viceroy, Arthur, lord Grey de Wilton, had arrived at Dublin. He had more than once expressed his willingness to serve in a subordinate capacity under Grey, and it was originally intended to send Wallop with the sword of state to Dublin. But Pelham was offended at the lack of courtesy shown to him by the deputy's secretary, Edmund Spenser, and determined to go himself to Dublin. He was detained for some time about Athlone by bad weather, and it was not till 7 Sept. that he formally resigned the sword of state to the deputy in St. Patrick's Cathedral. There was some talk of making him president of Munster, and he accompanied Grey to Drogheda to inspect the fortifications; but being taken dangerously ill, he was obliged to return to Dublin in a wagon. He obtained permission to return to England, and left Ireland early in October. On 16 Jan. 1581 he was joined in commission with the Earl of Shrewsbury and Sir Henry Neville to convey the Queen of Scots from Sheffield to Ashby in Leicestershire. He still retained the office of lieutenant-general of the ordnance, but his disbursements so far exceeded the profits of his office that in 1585 he found himself 8,000l. in arrears by virtue of his office alone, while his personal debts amounted to at least 5,000l. The queen refused either to remit or stall his debts; and, certain defalcations in connection with his office, for which he was held responsible, coming to light about the same time, she made the payment of his arrears, much to Leicester's annoyance and the detriment of the service, absolutely essential to permitting him to serve under the Earl of Leicester in the Netherlands. In vain Pelham implored her, ‘If you will not ease me of my debts, pray take my poor living into your possession, and give order for their payment, and imprest me some convenient sum to set me forward.’ Elizabeth was inexorable; but the remonstrances of Leicester and Burghley induced her so far to relent as to accept a mortgage on his property, and in July 1586 he joined Leicester in the Netherlands.
Leicester, who thought highly of his military abilities, created him marshal of the army, though by doing so he gave great offence to Sir John Norris [q. v.] and his brother Sir Edward. As for Pelham, he shared Leicester's prejudices against the Norrises, and at a drinking bout on 6 Aug. at Count Hohenlohe's quarters at Gertruydenberg, he was the cause of a fierce and brutal brawl which nearly cost Sir Edward Norris [q. v.] his life (cf. Motley, United Netherlands, ii. 92–9). Leicester laid the blame of the whole affair on Norris; but Pelham was naturally of an irascible disposition. A few days later, while inspecting the trenches before Doesburg in company with Leicester, he was wounded by a shot in the stomach. Thinking the wound to be fatal, he expressed his satisfaction at having warded off the blow from the commander-in-chief, who was standing directly behind him, and made other ‘comfortable and resolute speeches.’ But, though fated ‘to carry a bullet in his belly’ as long as he lived, the wound did not prove immediately fatal. He was able to take part in the fight at Zutphen, and, according to Fulke Greville, it was the desire to emulate him, and ‘to venture without any inequality,’ that made Sir Philip Sidney [q. v.] lay aside his cuisses and so to receive the wound that caused his death.
